Actually you have no clue what you are talking about. Bill Gates has given away close to 30 billion dollars. His worth would be close to 85 Billion compared to his 54 billion if he didn't donate so much of his money through his foundation.

How did Gates' net worth get up to 85 billion since Microsoft stock is lower today than 10 years ago?

Well, er... may have diversified investments. Everything doesn't have to be in one stock.

Right, but presumably a big chunk is in MSFT stock. And the market tanked a few years ago. And he's given away billions of dollars. So some of his investments must have done spectacularly well to almost double his money during that 10 years with much of his portfolio flat or negative. Of course if he had invested a 1/3 of his money in AAPL he'd be well over $100B now.

I like that Apple is close to #1 in the US corporate world and their leader is only 42nd wealthiest. It says something about Mr Jobs and something else about Mr Gates, about their priorities.

Or it just says Steve shouldn't have sold half his Apple stock in 2006.

In reality it says nothing about Microsoft and Apple. Most of Steve's money is in Disney and most of Bill's is in Cascade. Microsoft only accounts for $17b on Bills $54b and Apple only accounts for $1.5b of Steve's $6.1b.

Neither of which are particularly unexpected. Microsoft and Apple arn't companies to invest in if you want to make a major return, there more like a place to put your money to protect it.

What is more surprising though is that Bill has invested heavily in Cascade hence his wealth going up by billions each year. While Steve has basically left his money in 2 very safe companies.

LOL... yeah, good point. Mirroring Jobs' growth over the years, Apple's autos would, until recently, have left the assembly line with one pedal. If you pushed it, you'd accelerate. To brake, you'd have to hold down a button on the dash while pushing the pedal.

Apple would eventually offer models with two pedals, but they wouldn't be mechanical. Just a smooth surface and intelligent sensors for your feet to work with.

Revolutionary new compact models would outsell all the competition and create a new standard. But they wouldn't have a high beam Flash feature, so pundits would be predicting gloom and doom.

and people would laugh and point at how different this was..

the fanbois would be talking about how it doesn't crash all the time..

Neither of which are particularly unexpected. Microsoft and Apple arn't companies to invest in if you want to make a major return, there more like a place to put your money to protect it.

What? AAPL has been one of hottest stocks of the decade and is expected to gain another 50% in the next couple of year. That's doesn't exactly put AAPL in the value/safe category. Excellent investment yes; conservative no.

What? AAPL has been one of hottest stocks of the decade and is expected to gain another 50% in the next couple of year. That's doesn't exactly put AAPL in the value/safe category. Excellent investment yes; conservative no.

Gaining 50% in 2 years isn't what makes you ultra rich. That's more the good end of the safe bets. Investing in higher risk companies that a growing by over 100% in size each year is how you really accumulate wealth. Admittedly you have to do it with much smaller companies so it requires a lot more effort, but that's why the rich invest in investment companies.

Also keeping kind the wise financial words of my father: "You haven't made or lost anything in the stock market until you sell."

That's true but, unfortunately, that "philosophy" usually motivates a lot of people to stay in a stock too long on the way down. They usually don't have a pre-determined point at which they will sell, allowing their emotions to take over.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

That's true but, unfortunately, that "philosophy" usually motivates a lot of people to stay in a stock too long on the way down. They usually don't have a pre-determined point at which they will sell, allowing their emotions to take over.

He also said the stock market is run by two emotions: greed and fear. Im not sure if greed is accurately defined as a emotion, but what it conveys seems to be a general truth.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

He also said the stock market is run by two emotions: greed and fear. Im not sure if greed is accurately defined as a emotion, but what it conveys seems to be a general truth.

Whether you call them emotions or something else, these are the two, primal forces at work in the markets. Because the markets are exercises in mass behavior, we poor humans tend to make decisions based on whatever these primal forces are shouting in our faces at any given moment. Usually they are poor decisions, arguably the opposite of what we should be doing.

Funny story: On a Friday afternoon, about ten years ago, I had just written a big check which I barely had enough cash to cover. My plan was to sell some of my AAPL the following Monday to keep myself well in the black. That very afternoon, at the very moment I was at the bank writing the check, AAPL plummeted by 50% in after-hours trading. I was horrified but decided that I'd find some other way to make my finances work. Good thing, too, since those share have gone up ten-fold since then.

I tell you what .... you give me a portfolio where my "safe bets" gain 50% every 2 years and I will be satisfied with what I can accumulate, thank you very much.

I can only hope you were being sarcastic, or better yet, you don't put your "philosophy" into practice in the stock market.

I didn't say apple hasn't performed well over the last few years in comparison to the stock Market there in. Just that investing in something like apple is never going to give you 400% retunes that could be found in the ultra high risk markets and private companies.

Investing in any company in the Market apples in is relatively safe due to what you actually have to be to get there. Apple is a safe bet because it's highly unlikely you going to loose all your money, at worst you just wouldn't make any.

He also said the stock market is run by two emotions: greed and fear. Im not sure if greed is accurately defined as a emotion, but what it conveys seems to be a general truth.

He sounds like s wise man .... greed is a predominant "driver" in the stock market and is a huge contributor in the Losing side of a trade. The thing I enjoy about the stock market is the opportunity to observe "mass psychology"in action.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

I didn't say apple hasn't performed well over the last few years in comparison to the stock Market there in. Just that investing in something like apple is never going to give you 400% retunes that could be found in the ultra high risk markets and private companies.

Investing in any company in the Market apples in is relatively safe due to what you actually have to be to get there. Apple is a safe bet because it's highly unlikely you going to loose all your money, at worst you just wouldn't make any.

I'm not picking on your post ... it's just that, too often, I see people commenting, or even worse, investing their hard earned $$$$ into the stock market with an obvious "lack of experience" in the stock market.

One: Your comment (never going to give you 400%) is wrong because Apple's gain from 2006 to today is 477%:

Two: (at worst you just wouldn't make any) ... is wrong because there are 3 timeframes since 2006 that would give you the "opportunity" to do just that ... lose $$$$ .... 40%, 49% and 13%.

(ultra high risk) ... Don't forget that there is a direct and opposite correlation between risk and reward. People with little or no investing experience tend to forget about the risk part of the equation and only focus on the possible (but not probable) reward.

If you take anything at all from my post, please take this. ... There is one certainty when it comes to the stock market .... and that is .. there is nothing certain about it except that it should be called gambling, not investing.

Good Luck.

Blowing out another person's candle does not make our candle burn brighter - author unknown

If you take anything at all from my post, please take this. ... There is one certainty when it comes to the stock market .... and that is .. there is nothing certain about it except that it should be called gambling, not investing.